Book Excerpt: Michael Barry's Inside the Postal Bus - Part 2

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Book Excerpt: Michael Barry's Inside the Postal Bus - Part 2

Part 2 ? USA racing.

you want?? he barked as I rolled up beside the car.

?Bottles, please.?

?The feed zone is coming up. Go back to the peloton.?

I looked at him like he was kidding, and then realized he wasn?t when he rolled up the window. ?Prick!? I thought to myself. Why make me go all the way back to the peloton without bottles when they are right there, I am right there, and there are hours of racing to go?

That evening Laurenzo Lapage, our director in Georgia and the team?s third director, came to my room. Laurenzo and Julien have known each other for ages and Laurenzo has a good understanding of Julien. He explained to me that Julien is a good guy, but he has ways of ?playing with our balls,? and that Julien got a kick out of it. Laurenzo told me that he would joke with Julien in the car all day, playing tricks on him and nagging at him, but that Julien could also tell everything about a rider as soon as he saw him pedal?he could call a race from the backseat with one eye open while trying to sleep.

Julien apologized that night for not giving me water bottles, but only because the feed zone was much farther away than had been announced in the race manual, and we had to ride for an hour without water.

Julien has seen it all and had to deal with champions and assholes. He is extremely knowledgeable, and once you have proven yourself, he is also thoughtful. He doesn?t believe in giving the riders more than they need but will also compliment you when you have raced well. And I now understand that when a compliment comes from Julien it has high value.